The present invention relates to a process for manufacturing a device which is made from an aluminum alloy containing additions of boron or compounds thereof and is provided with an outer surface of aluminum, and relates too to an extrusion billet for carrying out the process.
It is known practice to manufacture rolled aluminum-boron composite panels which are assembled to provide housings to enclose and screen off neutron-emitting materials. The fraction of boron or its compounds in the aluminum alloy enables the thermal neutrons to be absorbed.
A disadvantage of rolling such composite panels is that the resultant product is of constant thickness. Regions of the housing subject to high local static loading must therefore be reinforced by additional structural parts.
In view of these facts the object of the present invention is to achieve simpler manufacture of sections of aluminum alloys for use in nuclear science and technology. Using a boron-containing aluminum-based raw material it should be possible to make a section which is such that it simultaneously ensures adequate stability and screening.